Deputies who shot Durham woman weren’t wearing body cameras. 911 call offers details.
Sheriff’s deputies who responded to a disturbance call in northern Durham County last week were not wearing body cameras when an officer fatally shot an armed woman outside her home.
Stephanie Wilson, 28, died in the Jan. 4 shooting on John Jones Road in Bahama when she refused to obey the deputies’ orders to drop a shotgun, according to police.
AnneMarie Breen, a spokesperson for The Durham County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to The News & Observer the deputies weren’t wearing body cameras but said the department will “be rolling them out very soon.” The Durham County commissioners approved funding for them last year, she wrote in an email.
Few details about the shooting have been released.
Authorities responded to a call placed around 3:20 p.m. by a resident of the John Jones Road home.
Authorities haven’t yet said whether Wilson made the call.
The caller said someone was trying to break into her home, according to a recording and transcript of a 911 call released by the Sheriff’s Office Tuesday.
“I heard a weird noise, and I’m locked in my room, I’m not sure what’s going on,” said the caller, who said she was alone.
“Yes ma’am, I think someone is trying to kick the door,” she said.
The operator dispatched deputies to the house.
A 911 service call history to the address requested by The N&O shows a law enforcement negotiations response team arrived at approximately 3:58 p.m. Minutes later after 4 p.m., deputies fatally shot Wilson.
There 911 history shows five calls from the home in the previous two years.
The most recent one before the Jan. 4 incident was March 5, 2021 for a domestic dispute. In 2020, officers responded to a call to locate an individual at the address Oct. 11 and three other calls about a residential alarm going off.
Wilson rented at the John Jones Road address, according to neighbors interviewed by ABC 11, The N&O’s news partner.
Body camera use by law enforcement
The N&O confirmed that the police departments in Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill all use body cameras.
The sheriff’s offices of Wake and Orange counties did not respond to an email query to confirm if their deputies wear body cameras. The Wake County Sheriff’s office was in the process of rolling out cameras last fall, WRAL reported.
Law enforcement footage from body-worn cameras and in-car cameras can be released with a court order, according to state law.
Before state law changed last year, a police chief or sheriff could share any body camera or dashboard video with family members in instances of death or serious injury, The N&O reported previously. The new law states families must secure permission from judges, who can refuse access to the footage.
This story was originally published January 13, 2022 at 5:30 AM.
